AC Invacar Model 70
Year 1972
Engine 493cc
Top speed 82mph (surely not!)
Having dragged this 1972 Invacar from a boggy field in Sussex, Ian Seabrook has decided to prepare the ungainly ice-blue three-wheeler for probably the biggest adventure of its life. He’s going to drive it 170 miles from his home in Wales to the brilliantly eccentric Festival of the Unexceptional in Buckinghamshire.
Fans of mint-condition Austin Allegros and cherished Datsun Sunnys will do well to make their way to Stowe House for the jamboree on 14 July.
Ian’s Invacar was effectively banned from the road in 2003, but somehow his was part of a group of 15 that escaped the scrapman’s grab and now the former invalid carriage is insured, taxed and undergoing testing – so far this has revealed a huge oil leak and a serious carburettor fault. Ian hasn’t managed 17 miles in yet, let alone 170!
Originally, there were many different invalid carriages, but the government wanted a standard design. AC of Cobra fame did the job, coming up with the Model 70, and It was designed to use Fiat running gear, but Fiat were reluctant to provide powerplants. So the engine from the Austrian-built Fiat 500 was used, a Steyr-Puch air-cooled flat twin of 493cc and 20bhp.
Around 18,000 were built between 1972 and 1977, with AC and Invacar Ltd building half of that total each. Invacar Ltd was run by the same people who built the Greeves motorcycles, and this company built the very first Invacar in 1948. Invacar was based in Thundersley, which is perhaps why these blue (they were all ice blue) three-wheelers are often known as Thundersley Invacars.
After pressure from Graham Hill and others, the scheme was ended in 1977 on safety grounds. It’s easy to see why. There’s very little crash protection, they’re quite unstable and wheelchair users did not need to take a proper driving test in order to drive them. It was decided that people who already had an Invacar could keep it, but the scheme finally came to a complete end in 2003 and within the space of a week or so, all remaining Invacars (several hundred) were collected from their ‘owners.’ The cars were leased to the end user.
When Ian took his TWC 725K for its first drive, he found it terrifying but exhilarating, and bedecked by running problems. It’ll be a minor miracle if he makes it all the way to the festival, but we wish him the best of luck. Follow his exploits at youtube. com/HubNut.
Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166
